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Naila Francis

@thishallowedwilderness

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Grief Coach. Death Midwife. ▫️1-on-1 + group grief support/ritual▫️Community grief rituals @salttrailsphilly

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Our annual community processional takes place next month!

Together we honor the shared weight of sorrow through movement, music, and ritual. Rooted in collective care, this gathering invites participants to walk together in remembrance, solidarity, and the sacred act of grieving in public.

Grief does not look the same for everyone. It may be expressed through silence, song, movement, tears, conversation, prayer, art, memory, or simply the choice to show up. This gathering welcomes the full range of those experiences. We invite people of all ages, racial and cultural identities, genders, sexualities, faiths, abilities, and relationships to loss. We welcome you wherever you are in your grief, whether it is silent and still, or loud and moving.

We ask everyone to help create a space where grief is treated with dignity.

💧Sixth Annual Grief Processional

🗓️Saturday, October 17, 2026, 1–3 p.m. [
Rain date: Sunday, October 18, 2026, from 1–3 p.m.]

📍Race Street Pier, Race Street and North Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19106

🪻Free to attend (donations welcome)

💀You are invited to “wear your grief,” however you interpret doing so. All griefs are welcome.

More details, including information on accessibility and parking, can be found on our website:

https://www.salttrailsphilly.com/writings/carrying-our-grief-together-6th-annual-community-grief-processional

#salttrailscollective #grievingtogether #griefprocessional #griefritual #carryingourgrieftogether by @thishallowedwilderness

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18 days ago

In her poem, “Sleeping in the Forest,” Mary Oliver writes: “I thought the earth remembered me/ she took me back so tenderly,/ arranging her dark skirts, her pockets/full of lichens and seeds.”

What would it feel like to be remembered by the Earth, to know we are held by her generous living body through our heartaches and difficulties?

In this careshop, we will spend some time reconnecting to the Earth through poetry, journaling, and embodied practice, to open up to her support. To listen for what wisdom she may have to offer to meet the sorrows we carry and to offer her our reciprocal care. All griefs, from the personal to the planetary, are welcome.

Please bring a journal or something to write with, as well as an element from nature that you feel drawn to (a rock, leaf, flower, shell, etc.).

🍂 Held by the Earth: A Grief Careshop
🗓️1-3 pm Sunday. October 11 (rain date October 25)
📍Franciscan Spiritual Center, Our Lady of Angels Convent, 609 Convent Road, Aston, PA 19014
🍁 $40 to $80 sliding scale
🔗 See bio to register
#heldbytheearth #griefspace #griefworkshop #healingwithnature #griefandlosssupport by @thishallowedwilderness

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a month ago

Last year on my dad’s death anniversary, I took a walk in the woods. [Walks with my dad are a grief practice I’ve had for years😊] On the trail, I saw an Eastern Box Turtle, a rare sight. In a Substack post I wrote that night, I thanked my dad for sending that bit of magic my way. (See my stories to read it).)

Today as we walked together on the 14th anniversary of his death, I heard a rustle at my feet and looked down to find this ribbon snake. I am terrified of snakes, though I know their medicine is potent. But when I saw this one today, I laughed, imagining my dad’s impish smile, his delight in another unexpected gift from the woods. Instead of running, I crouched low, took in the patterns of its skin, surprising myself with how beautiful I found them to be. I met its eyes, wondering what my dad would want me to know from this encounter. As I asked him, I heard his own question: “What if you approached the things that scared you with wonder and curiosity? Might you find beauty there, too?”

Although I’ve been walking these woods for 16 years, a snake has never come across my path. I was still staring at it, entranced, when a chatty group approached, and it began to slither away. The group paused. We marveled together at this small disappearing creature, there was some storytelling about the ribbon snake one of them had as a kid, some laughter and then they were on their way. My dad, ever charming and charismatic, had a knack for engaging with strangers.

We walked on together, accompanied by birds and falling leaves and rushing water. Eventually a song started coming through. I said, “Dad, let’s sing together.” And we sang all the way back to my house.😊🎶

Other ways Dad’s been with me today: wearing his hat, his tie, & the Che Guevara necklace he gave me. Listening to George Benson & Spyro Gyra. Sharing a mango.

It also seems fitting that I would sit with a lovely group of humans today for my first class of Gathering on Sorrow’s Ground.

Thank you, Dad, for showing up when I need you, filling my tender heart.

#deathanniversary #deaddadclub #griefislove #loveyoudad #snakemedicine by @thishallowedwilderness

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3 days ago

There are places inside of us that 1:1 psychotherapy cannot touch. There are dark rooms of hidden grief that can only light up in ceremonial and ritual space: through song, art, poetry, authentic sharing, communing with nature, and softening our hearts to tend to our grief together. To remember we are not alone, together.

In a time where so much literal and symbolic death is happening — including the death of our communal fabric — simply being at ease in groups of others feels like much needed work.

It such a treat and blessing to have dear friend and co-facilitator, Naila, come all the way out from Philly! And a big thanks to Matt who supported us by holding down the rhythm and beat during the ritual.

We are so grateful to the group of brave and tender hearts who chose to show up and feel in a time where there is so much draw to “numb and purchase, numb and purchase,” as adrienne maree-brown says. Thank you for showing up, doing the hard work of keeping your heart alive amidst the collective numbing of our times, and helping others find their courage through you.

It truly takes a village to make these gatherings be such potent portals of healing, and these trees are definitely part of it! We can learn so much from these trees who rely on one another by fusing their shallow roots together to weather the wind and storms. It felt so surreal to feel the collective wisdom of their survival as we felt the heavy charge of the internal and collective winds and storms as we interlocked our care to support this sweet pop-up village. May we continue to create these refugias, these homing beacons, these felt senses of what community is and can be, and find our way together through the dark, together. #griefretreat #griefandnature #collectivehealing #griefgroup #redwoods by @thishallowedwilderness

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5 days ago

So many of us grew up in homes where grief was bypassed, tucked away, never acknowledged, covered up with “business as usual.”

What capacity might we have to be with our grief as adults, instead of regarding it with fear, mistrust, disdain and discomfort, if we’d had healthier models of grieving? What might we have more access to in terms of care and compassion and trust in the truth of our experience?

Looking for a soft place where your losses can be met and acknowledged? Where you can name your sorrows, your heartache and know they are absolutely worthy of being grieved?

Join me in any one of these spaces:

🪾Registration for “Gathering on Sorrow’s Ground,” 5 weeks of grief tending in Chestnut Hill, Pa., offered through @mtairylearningtree closes tomorrow (Wednesday, October 14). Classes begin Oct. 15

🪾Carrying Our Grief Together, the annual community grief processional held by @salttrailsphilly takes place from 1-3 pm this Saturday, October 17 at Race Street Pier in Philly (rain date Sunday)

🪾”Held by the Earth: A Grief Careshop” takes place Sunday, October 25, from 1-3 pm on the beautiful grounds @fscaston

🪾The next free grief walk with @phillygoatproject takes place November 21 from 12-2 pm (rain date November 22) in Germantown, Pa.

More info for all at bio link or at my website www.thishallowedwilderness.com

#griefcare #griefandlosssupport #griefawareness #griefworkshop #yourgriefmatters by @thishallowedwilderness

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5 days ago

Maybe speaking our grief to each other is the door to a great tenderness, a genuine intimacy, a place where we can be witnessed, affirmed and supported just as we are.

#griefcare #griefandlosssupport #grievingoutloud #grievingtogether #griefawareness by @thishallowedwilderness

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9 days ago

What does it mean to wear your grief?

For some, it may be a patch with a name or phrase. It may be a loved one’s shirt, jewelry, or another treasured object. It may be a color, a texture, flowers, handmade adornments, or something that only makes sense to you. It might mean symbols like tears, religious iconography, beings from nature, etc.

There is no single right way to express grief—and you do not need to wear anything at all. Your grief may be visible, subtle, private, changing, or beyond words.

For this year’s Carrying Our Grief community processional, we re-invite you to wear or carry what your grief calls for, with care for the cultures and traditions that are not your own. Draw from your own memories, relationships, and experiences rather than imitating sacred symbols or mourning practices from another community. Draw from the brilliance of the many expressions of grief we have witnessed and worn together in year’s past.

Join us October 17 from 1–3 p.m. at Race Street Pier in Philadelphia. Rain date: October 18.

#WearYourGrief #GriefProcessional #CommunityCare #CollectiveGrief #PhiladelphiaEvents by @thishallowedwilderness

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10 days ago

Due to the forecast of rain on Sunday, we are postponing Held by the Earth: A Grief Careshop to Sunday, October 25 from 1 to 3 P.M. Come with whatever grief you are carrying —from the personal to the planetary— for this gentle time of tending our sorrow in community with Mother Earth and one another. Copy and paste to register: https://fscaston.org/events-retreats/402/held-by-the-earth-a-grief-careshop/ taken in Franciscan Spiritual Center - Aston by @thishallowedwilderness

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10 days ago

Because being in community responding together to poems about grief and writing to what they touched in us is one way we ready a real space for grief.

Registration for my @bluestoopphl class, “Unlocking Grief: exploring loss through poetry,” closes October 9 (this Friday, not the 11th as I say in this video 😬)

Each class will feature a selection of poems, shared ahead of time, with prompts and invitations to write in response to the poems. No poetry writing experience is necessary.

Classes meet via Zoom from 6:30 to 8:30 pm Wednesdays Oct. 14-28. Fee: $210.

To find more details and register, see the link in bio or visit bluestoop.org/classes

📔PROMPT INVITATION:
“Ah, Grief, I should not treat you…”

What comes up for you when you write to this prompt? How have you been denying or avoiding your grief? What might it look like to claim it as yours and care for it?

🐕
“Talking To Grief” by Denise Levertov

Ah, Grief, I should not treat you
like a homeless dog
who comes to the back door
for a crust, for a meatless bone.
I should trust you.

I should coax you
into the house and give you
your own corner,
a worn mat to lie on,
your own water dish.

You think I don’t know you’ve been living
under my porch.
You long for your real place to be readied
before winter comes. You need
your name,
your collar and tag. You need
the right to warn off intruders,
to consider
my house your own
and me your person
and yourself
my own dog.

#griefworkshop #poetryworkshop #griefpoems #writingthroughgrief navigatinggrief by @thishallowedwilderness

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13 days ago

Just sitting under this ancient one in the redwoods before heading into grief ritual with @griefmedicine at our grief retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains when this song came through.

Sharing for anyone who needs this reminder, too.💚 Thank you song, thank you redwood elder.

#griefritual #griefretreat #songmedicine #songcatching #dreamingwiththetrees by @thishallowedwilderness

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15 days ago

Returning to these words, and this practice, from an older Substack post…though there is so much more I am sitting with and have been for weeks now.

Reminding myself that this rage I’ve been feeling and moving with, even more inflamed now, is sacred.

That our rage is a signal of who and what matters to us. That we can channel it in service to protect the vulnerable, uplift the names, voices and stories of the harmed and to disrupt the systems that perpetuate harm. That we can use it to feed life and our collective liberation.

But first we need to feel it. And in giving it space, movement, voice, we can come to know what it’s truly asking of us.

#holyoutrage #griefandrage #trustyourgrief #destroythepatriarchy #believesurvivors by @thishallowedwilderness

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18 days ago

Gently tend your grief in this sacred place.
Come spend some time reconnecting to Mother Earth on the sacred, beautiful, beloved grounds of Our Lady of Angels Convent. Through poetry, journaling, and embodied practice, we will listen for what wisdom she may have to offer to meet the sorrows we carry.

�All griefs, from the personal to the planetary, are welcome. Copy this link to register: https://fscaston.org/events-retreats/402/held-by-the-earth-a-grief-careshop/ taken in Franciscan Spiritual Center - Aston by @thishallowedwilderness

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19 days ago